Smackwater Jack and Others

May 27, 2022

 

“Smackwater Jack bought a shotgun…He didn’t think about the noose. He couldn’t take no more abuse,

 

so he shot down the congregation.”  

 

Carole King song released in 1971

 

 

The words were running through my head this morning. I wondered if it was the first song to talk about a mass shooting.

 

“I Don’t Like Mondays” was another one. While King’s was fiction, talking about social injustice, this one was based on a true story—a teenaged girl shot up the elementary playground across the street from her house in 1979 because she was bored. 2 adults were killed and 8 children were injured.

 

No great philosophy here, except that mass shootings aren’t new; they actually had songs written about them decades ago. (If there were a philosophical bent, it would be, Wow! We have songs about mass shootings! What does that say about our culture?) Unfortunately, they are no longer rare.

 

These days, every year we can say,

 

 

“And on the whole, it was a very good year for the undertaker.” (Smackwater Jack)